Get my ASRock Conroe945G-DVI to support 4GB RAM, possible?

by **~~MAINFRAIME²~~** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 3:46 am

I have a "ASRock Conroe945G-DVI" and 4x1GB ram installed but only 3200MB are recognized by the BIOS, why is this limited so far below 4GB?

The mainboard chipset supports addressing of 4GB ram
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/c ... erview.htm

Now I have the BIOS version P1.90 here and checked it with a hex editor and found one value (at 0x0001E552) that is "0x0000008C" (3355443200) which makes exact 3200MB.
My question now can this work, if I change it to "0xFFFFFFFF" (4294967295) 4GB or is this a really bad idea?
Maybe I should try increasing it by smaller (100MB) steps?
Is there a way to test this before flashing it or is flashing the only way to get this tested?

Maybe there is already a modified version which can handle 4GB ram?

BiosMan · by **KachiWachi** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:19 pm

OS?

Thanks.

by **~~MAINFRAIME²~~** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:53 am

I'm running XP and XP64, both report 3,12GB of RAM.
If I enter the BIOS it tells me that 4096MB are installed however at startup right before detecting the drives it says 3200MB which brought me to the idea checking the BIOS file with a hex editor for that value.

by **Denniss** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:22 pm

Search your Bios for an Option called memory mapping, remapping, relocation or similar and disable or enable it.
Otherwise change the flexibility option in Bios chipset configuration menu from disabled to enabled (or vice versa).

by **~~MAINFRAIME²~~** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:16 am

The "flexibility option" does nothing BIOS still shows 3200MB at startup
and I do not have any "memory mapping" option.

That's all there is under "chipset configuration"
http://xtreview.com/images/ASRock-ConRoe945G-DVI/bios4.png

BiosMan · by **KachiWachi** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:06 pm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888137/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291988/en-us

Thanks.

by **~~MAINFRAIME²~~** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:51 pm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888137/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291988/en-us

These only apply to 32bit editions of windows and some 64bit vista versions but not on XP64 or Server 2003 64bit which XP64 is based on.

PAE is only for 32-bit systems but my XP64 is also reporting 3,12GB.
I mainly use XP64 the XP32 is an old installation which I use only if needed.

And what does PAE have to do with the BIOS saying there are 4096MB installed but the POST screen shows 3200MB at boot.

I have run the ubuntu live cd (32bit) and "free" tells me

Code: Select all: ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3245840 697024 2548816 0 91152 382768 -/+ buffers/cache: 223104 3022736 Swap: 0 0 0

Also msinfo32 on my XP64 tells me that I have a total of "3,199.14MB" physical memory
and the task manager says "3275916KB"

The BIOS must limit the maximum ram to 3200MB, XP64 supports up to 128GB.

by **Denniss** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:20 am

Contact Asrock Tech Support - they sometimes have a Beta-Bios on hand but send it out only per request.

by **edwin** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:03 pm

Due to the chipset limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® XP, Windows® XP 64-bit, Windows® Vista™ and Windows® Vista™ 64-bit.

I have no idea why that would be but it is mentioned on the product page.

by **~~MAINFRAIME²~~** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:40 pm

Contact Asrock Tech Support - they sometimes have a Beta-Bios on hand but send it out only per request.

I have now contacted the support, let's see what they have to say.

I have no idea why that would be but it is mentioned on the product page.

I know but 896MB less that is a lot, I wouldn't mind some megs but that makes my fourth GB almost useless.